John Kerry: Let’s face it, things were simpler during the Cold War

posted at 6:41 pm on April 22, 2014 by Allahpundit

“The choices were less varied, less complicated, more stark, more clear: Communism, democracy, West, East, the Iron Curtain.”

He said “multiple emerging powers,” unleashed forces like radical Islam, and “too many failed states” have dramatically complicated the landscape, requiring a form of diplomatic precision that was not absolutely necessary decades ago.

In the post-war 1950s and 1960s, Kerry said, “we could make really bad decisions and still win, because we were pretty much the sole dominant economic and military power around.

“It’s not true any more.”

Good question from PJ Media blogger/Hot Air alumnus Bryan Preston. If things were simpler then, how come so many leftists got them wrong?

Kerry supported the 1980s nuclear freeze movement, which was Soviet-funded in the West and aimed to disarm the free world of our nuclear deterrent. Ted Kennedy was working with the Soviets behind Reagan’s back, according to his KGB files. Numerous Democrats actually believed that Ronald Reagan was more of a threat to the world than any Soviet premier.

For his part, Kerry even got the war he fought in wrong. Vietnam was about containing international communism. He made it about smearing his fellow soldiers, with all that “Jenghis Ghan” stuff. When America abandoned Vietnam, as Kerry wanted, the communists went on a rampage and killed hundreds of thousands over the next several years.

The world is safer now than it was during the Cold War and nearly everywhere violence is in decline, which, if you specialize in diplomacy, I suppose does make your job harder. In the past, the threat of global nuclear war would have made Russia think twice about pushing too far west. Nowadays, as more international conflict is channeled into diplomatic standoffs, more subtle deterrents are required. I’d call that progress, if only for reasons of self-interest, but the thought of Waffles having to work longer hours than earlier secretaries of state does make me sad. Another key reason things were “simpler” during the Cold War is the white-knuckle terror felt by countries throughout Eurasia that the Red Army might suddenly show up in their capitals one day. It wasn’t so much America’s power that bought carte blanche for U.S. diplomats as it was Soviet power and the fear it generated in nonaligned states. When the USSR fell apart and that fear started to fade, so did some of the incentive among U.S. allies to cooperate with us.

But here’s the “good” news. Given how easy it was for Putin to seize Crimea and how little he seems to care about Obama’s latest “red line” for eastern Ukraine, you may start seeing some of the old jitters about Russia creep back into the foreign-poilicy calculations of European and Asian states. And that’ll make things “easier” for Kerry. In fact, maybe that’s O’s international legacy: He presided over Russia’s return to menacing-superpower status, which in turn launched Cold War II and made things “simple” for the State Department. That’s change you can believe it.

Blowback

Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.

We…didn’t have 18 trillion of debt.
We…still had manufacturing without excess regulatory burden
We…Had a lower spending as a % of GDP
We…Had a non-politicized CIA and IRS
We…Had lots of open space in Utah
We…Didn’t have drones.
We…had competent leadership.

People running that show made it easier. These were WWII & Viet Nam war hardened veterans who knew how to kick ass & take names. Not Nam war protester, service medal flinging jerks that works for an ex Community Organizer who who’s never held a real job & happens to be running our country.

People running that show made it easier. These were WWII & Viet Nam war hardened veterans who knew how to kick ass & take names. Not Nam war protester, service medal flinging jerks that works for an ex Community Organizer who who’s never held a real job & happens to be running ruining our country.

Not to mention we didn’t have to put up with your sanctimonious, ignorant self who married your money ticket (Teresa Heinz) after coming from home from the Iraq war and throwing away another man’s medals over a fence in a fake show of disdain for “your medals” and the war, and your deluded mentally-ill prezzie busy marching us off the cliff.

No, Mr. Kerry, things were not simpler. It’s just that for the individual who has no guiding principles -no bedrock values- by which he conducts his own life, the business of the representing values of an entire nation to the rest of the world -with its’ myriad opportunities for the venal- must seem an impossibility.

“The choices were less varied, less complicated, more stark, more clear: Communism, democracy, West, East, the Iron Curtain.”

Yes, and they’re still simple. You can either choose the side that stands for actual progress, and freedom of conscience, or you can choose the side that seeks to destroy both and impose a totalitarian culture on the entire world.

You may notice that “progressives” like JFKook choose the totalitarian side every single time. And as Reagan said are perfectly willing to lie, cheat, steal, and kill to achieve their goal of absolute, unchallengeable power.

Which they will use to… kill more people, on this principle;

1. Destroy Everything

2. Kill As Many People As Possible

3. THEN A MIRACLE OCCURS

4. UTOPIA! (Creates Itself Spontaneously)

5. If (4) Does Not Happen

6. Return To (1), Repeat Process As Many Times As Necessary Until (4) DOES Happen

That is the “progressive philosophy” in a nutshell. And JFKook is one of its most faithful adherents.

The past is always easier than the present;
You know how everything turned out
Looking back gives you two perspectives; the one you had before and the one after
It takes more courage to face the present than the past
To deal with the present requires a guiding principle other than ‘Look good on the 6 o’clock news’.

What, no nostalgia for 18+ percent mortgages, inflation, and a US Foreign policy based on surrendering our sovereignty wherever we could?

massrighty on April 22, 2014 at 8:33 PM

Heck,no! You’re bringing back really, really bad memories.

I was sooooo glad when his last coat tail hit the door as he left the WH. I got so tired of his ruminations over his “sins” of lusting after other women instead of his wife. I just cringed for her when I heard that. He should have stuck to peanut farming. The only thing he would have killed would have been the peanuts.

I really didn’t think anyone could beat him in his disgraceful prezidenzy until our current Socialist/Communist liar-in-chief.

He said “multiple emerging powers,” unleashed forces like radical Islam, and “too many failed states” have dramatically complicated the landscape,

By all means, let’s return to the good old days of the Cuban Missile Crises.

As far as “failed states,” is he referring to Libya, where without Congressional approval we participated in knocking off their government? How about Egypt, where we helped push Mubarek out of office and actually supported the Muslim Brotherhood coming to power. Or how about Iraq, where our failure to negotiate a SOFA has resulted in Al Qaeda capturing cities where American blood was shed. Are these the “failed states” he means?

Yeah, but less profitable. There’s a lot of money to be made in building missile systems and such, but with increasingly Socialist Congresses and Administrations, that was becoming less tenable as an ongoing venture.

There was much more money to be made from including something like a billion and a half potential consumers and a massive cheap labor pool, especially behind the Bamboo Curtain.

It used to go “if you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich?” But to address our current Secretary of State: “if you’re so rich, why aren’t you smart?”

Secretary Kerry, his predecessor, and that clueless light-worker boss of theirs has deliberately thrown away every diplomatic tool and lever in the bag. Crimeny, Mr. Secretary – if you show up at a gunfight and don’t even have a pea shooter, of course it’s going to be difficult. Duh, you blockhead.